GoneTrending

Playboi Carti made quite the splash the week before Christmas when he revealed that his long-awaited sophomore album, Whole Lotta Red, would come out on Christmas Day. The follow up to his 2018 debut album Die Lit has been anticipated by fans for all years, and when a social media conversation with Travis Scott about what seemed like an album collab stirred the pot, fans were thrilled to get new music from the young rapper. So much so, that they’ve pushed his record to a No. 1 debut on the Billboard chart, a first for Carti.

Though Playboi might not be getting as hot of a reception from critics, and the mother of his child and ex-girlfriend Iggy Azalea flamed him up over a canceled Christmas trip to see his son, the album streams and sales are there. And that’s not too shabby a way to kick off the new year. Whole Lotta Red features collaborations with Kid Cudi on “M3tamorphosis” — which was also accompanied by a video on the night of the album release — and Kanye West on “Go2DaMoon.”

Luckily for Carti, Taylor Swift’s Evermore dropped down to the No. 2 slot for this week after spending two weeks at No. 1, giving him the distinction of topping the chart.

It’s been nearly two long months since the 2020 presidential race was called for Joe Biden, and to no one’s surprise his predecessor, Donald J. Trump, has not allowed a peaceful transition of power. Instead he’s filled the courts with dozens of failed lawsuits and insisted, baselessly, on voter fraud. The majority of Republicans have gone along with it thus far but, on Sunday, some of that support belatedly started eroding away. As per The Washington Post, a forceful letter demanded Trump concede was made public, one signed by such GOP heavy-hitters as Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld.

Those who signed the joint missive happened to all be former U.S. defense secretaries; the others were James Mattis, Mark Esper, Leon Panetta, William Cohen, Chuck Hagel, Robert Gates, William Perry and Ashton Carter. It was released mere days before Congress is scheduled to formally confirm Electoral College votes — a process that is being challenged by a number of Republican lawmakers, many of them steadfast supporters of the outgoing president. But though that effort is almost certainly doomed to fail, the letter from former vice president Cheney et al. did not mince words:

“Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived.”

One alarming part of the letter concerns fears that Trump would coax the military to help him overturn the election results. The signees stressed that doing so — which is also unlikely — “would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory.”

Sunday was a big day for big-time Republican names to come down hard against Trump’s continued attempts to unlawfully serve a second administration. Lindsey Graham, a onetime Trump critic who become one of his minions, tweeted Sunday that while he looks forward to hearing any real objections to the Electoral College votes that will be submitted on Tuesday, he stated sharply that they “will need to provide proof of the charges they are making.

Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who ran as a vice presidential candidate opposite Mitt Romney in 2012, losing the position to incoming president Joe Biden, also denounced Republican attempts to spread unproven discord about November’s election.

Will this soften Trump’s increasingly desperate and convoluted attempts to overturn an election he lost by over seven million votes? Probably not. After all, the news comes the same day The Washington Post also dropped audio of him asking Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to falsify election results in his favor — a smoking gun, essentially, proving illegality. So his post-presidential life is not exactly looking rosy.

(Via The Washington Post)

Prince’s estate has a new issue on its hands, as the IRS reportedly said it undervalued its value by 50% — which amounts to about $80 million. As a result, the government agency says they are now owed more than $32 million by the late musician’s camp. According to the Star Tribune, the estate’s administrator, Comerica Bank & Trust, submitted documents that said they were only valued at $82.3 million, rather than the $163.2 million amount the IRS later determined the number to be. As a result of the gap, the IRS is seeking an additional $32.4 million. The IRS has also placed a $6.4 million “accuracy-related penalty.”

However, Comerica and its lawyers at Fredrikson & Byron in Minneapolis deny the IRS’ claims and say the documents were accurate. They have also asked a tax court to hold a trial in St. Paul, kicking off a process that would prolong the settlement of the estate and possibly create more legal fees at the expense of Prince’s heirs.

There have been many issues since Prince’s 2016 death. Estimates of his net worth have gone as low as $100 million to as high as $300 million. Prior to the IRS ruling, Comerica sued the IRS this past summer according to the Associated Press and claimed their calculations were filled with errors.

(via Star Tribune)

Sunday was a meaningful day for a number of NFL franchises, as the playoff hopes of 11 teams were to be decided. Among those were three squads in the NFC East, as the Cowboys, Giants, and Football Team all entered the day with, somehow, the division still up for grabs despite all having losing records.

The first game of the day in the division was Cowboys-Giants, with the winner keeping hope alive, needing an Eagles win to make the playoffs, and the loser seeing themselves fall to the top 10 of the NFL Draft order — which, to be honest, wasn’t the worst outcome in the world. The way that game ended was an abject disaster that was fitting of the way the division has played this season. Andy Dalton threw a horrific interception in the end zone to end a Cowboys comeback bid, but the Giants almost handed the ball back to them with an untouched fumble from Wayne Gallman that, somehow, was ruled to be retained by New York after the back sat on the ball and was deemed to have possession.

Once the game ended there were some celebrations from Giants fans — and some Cowboys fans who recognized it was much more important to add talent to this team than make the playoffs and likely lose — but no one reveled in the misery of the portion of the Dallas faithful still holding out hope for their playoff dreams more than Stephen A. Smith. ESPN’s top provocateur has always loved prodding Cowboys fans and took to Twitter donning his cowboy hat with cigar in hand to take a victory lap.

Smith is the finest performance artist in the sports media for a reason, and his commitment to the bit is tremendous — although, gotta clean it up with Washington’s nickname here, Stephen A. For those Dallas fans who are happier getting a top pick so they can hopefully bounce back next year with some more talent around Dak Prescott (or on the defensive end), this won’t get to them, but there will be plenty who get riled up over Smith’s latest prodding at America’s Team, something that truly seems to bring him immense joy.

Every now and then Hollywood greenlights a movie based not on a novel or a comic book or, indeed, any IP that has been adapted into anything else before. Films based on board games have been a thing since Clue, back in 1985. Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! was based on a series of trading cards. He’s Just Not That Into You, a self-help book, was turned into a star-studded rom-com. And maybe one day we’ll final get that Kevin Hart Monopoly movie announced about a year ago.

But this one is next level: As per Deadline, a movie is being made based on…the Rubik’s Cube. The three-dimensional puzzle toy that has been frustrating all but the brainiest since 1974. How will a box-shaped gizmo with nine colored blocks per side be turned into a narrative? Well, they made a movie about emojis — surely some screenwriting geniuses can crack it.

But that’s not all. This is an era when the best (or at least most profitable) IPs are the ones that cross mediums. And so the modest Cube is also becoming fodder for the latest game show craze. It’s not clear how this one will work either. Presumably it would be pretty boring watching some rando try and solve the puzzle in real time.

In the meantime, enjoy this brief video from 2009 of film and music video director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, this classic White Stripes video, among others), solving a Rubik’s Cube with his feet. See if you can catch how he did it! And, of course, you could also just buy one and try and solve it. Maybe it’ll take you longer than it does for Hollywood to make a Rubik’s Cube movie.

(Via Deadline)

After dropping a game in Detroit on Friday, the Celtics entered Sunday afternoon’s matchup with the Pistons looking to split the two-game series in Detroit but found themselves once again in a precarious position late.

This time, however, they had the answers on both ends of the floor to emerge with a 122-120 victory and improve to 4-3 on the season, thanks to the tremendous efforts of their star wing duo of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Brown finished the game with 31 points to lead Boston, with his most notable effort coming with the Celtics trailing by one late when Tatum found him on the wing for an open three to give them a two-point lead.

Detroit would tie the game on the next possession, and once again the Celtics had Tatum initiate the action. This time, when he got the switch he wanted he went to work on Blake Griffin, shaking the big man for an open pull-up jumper on the elbow. On the Pistons next possession, it was Tatum’s turn to play hero on the defensive end as well, as he got a hand on Griffin’s late heave to secure a Boston win.

It has been hard work for the Celtics in just about every game this season, as now three of their four wins have come by five points or fewer, but with Kemba Walker out they have to be pleased with every win they get as they continue to try and figure out exactly what rotations look like. In a season in which it feels like the majority of teams are struggling to find consistency, Boston’s start is far from a disaster. The good news is that Tatum and Brown have been excellent, the big question going forward is how long it will take for them to get everyone else going — and get the defense back to where it was a year ago.

TikTok is the place where all of the bizarre memes you probably don’t understand originate these days. Now it’s also where a successful musical based on a Pixar movie was born. The production received considerable buzz online over the weekend, and it was the final culmination of a project that started with a simple video on the platform and turned into a star-studded online event.

According to Deadline, the musical has raised more than $1 million for The Actors Fund, which has helped out-of-work actors in need due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The event spiraled into a major, multi-song production starring TikTok stars as well as some Hollywood and Broadway talent who were eager to help.

What first started as a viral TikTok about a musical adaptation of the beloved Disney-Pixar title became a full-fledged production complete with Hollywood stars. Taking inspiration from the 2007 animated flick, the crowdsourced TikTok musical follows an ambitious and culinarily savvy rat as he uses a hopeless chef to make his mark in the cooking world.

Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical premiered on Friday, New Year’s Day, and will continue to stream until Monday. Reaching an audience of more than 200 million fans world wide, Ratatouille: The TikTok Musical featured TikTok creators performing alongside the likes of Titus Burgess, Wayne Brady, Adam Lambert, Ashley Park and more.

Even the New York Times theater critic reviewed the musical, so you know it’s legit. The stream is available here, and you can donate as little as $5 to see it for yourself before it disappears on Monday.

Since November, Sia has been dealing with heavy criticism following the release of her film Music. Much of the backlash is focused on Maddie Ziegler, who plays a character named Music, who appears to be on the autistic spectrum. Viewers were not happy with the casting choice, as many felt a “disabled” actor would have been a better choice. Sia defended her casting choice and revealed that she attempted to work with a nonverbal girl on the spectrum, but the young woman found it “unpleasant” and “stressful.” Once again, the pop singer took a moment to respond to the backlash during a recent appearance on the Australian TV show The Sunday Project.

“I realized it wasn’t ableism,” she said of her choice to cast Ziegler. “I mean, it is ableism I guess as well, but it’s actually nepotism because I can’t do a project without her. I don’t want to. I wouldn’t make art if it didn’t include her.” After calling herself Ziegler’s “bonus mom,” Sia revealed that there were concerns from the Music actor that viewers would perceive her role as “making fun” of autistic people. “I bold-facedly said, ‘I won’t let that happen,’” she said. Unfortunately that is exactly what the response has been to the film.

“Last week I realized I couldn’t really protect her from that, which I thought I could,” the singer said. “We sent it off to the Child Mind Institute and she received 100 percent as performance accuracy. I realize that there are some things I can’t protect her from as much as I try.”

You can watch her appearance on The Sunday Project above.

Sia is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

The NFC East crown was still up for grabs on Sunday as the Giants and Cowboys played in the early window, with the winner keeping their playoff hopes alive pending the result of the Sunday Night game between the Football Team and Eagles.

An Eagles win would give the winner of Giants-Cowboys the division, while Washington has a win and in scenario. Aside from the Browns nail-biting win over the Steelers, that meant it was the focal point of the early window and it produced a game fitting of the 2020 NFC East. New York went up 20-6 and appeared to be on cruise control before their offense came to a complete and total halt, with some awful turnover luck and just generally awful play.

Dallas climbed all the way back to make it 20-19 — they settled for four field goals, three of which came on solid drives after being unable to capitalize in the red zone. A Giants field goal made things 23-19 and with under two minutes to play, the Cowboys reached a first-and-goal situation. From there, Andy Dalton ate a sack that dropped them to the 17, CeeDee Lamb dropped a wide open pass over the middle that would’ve set up a third and manageable distance, and on 3rd and goal from the 17, Dalton did…this.

It was, objectively, an awful pass and also felt like a perfect end point for the season in Dallas. However, the Giants still needed a first down to ice the game, and turned to Wayne Gallman, who already had one fumble on the day. Gallman, on second down, broke free and across the line to gain and simply needed to fall down to seal the win. Instead, he just…dropped the football and chaos ensued, with one of the strangest explanations of possession you’ll ever see resulting in the Giants retaining the ball and getting the win.

Somehow, Gallman doing a James Brown split onto the football meant he had possession — an alternate angle during the replay showed there was a hand on it and made it look a bit more like possession — but with the ball eventually squirting free of Gallman’s grasp on video it was wild that it was ruled Giants ball and that the play held up.

In any case, it is Giants fans that will spend Sunday night rooting aggressively for the Eagles, and they have Wayne Gallman’s butt to thank for that.

After letting fans sit with his Music To Be Murdered By – Side B deluxe album for a few weeks, Eminem stopped by Shade 45 to share some stories and inspiration behind some of its songs. The discussion occurred during a playback of the deluxe album and when “Guns Blazing” with Dr. Dre and Sly Paper came on, Eminem shared an interesting story about how the song came together.

That was actually a record that I stole from Dre. Cause he was sending me music and he kept sending me sh*t and every time he sends I’m like, “Yo this one’s crazier than the last one.” I don’t even know which one is the craziest one. He sends me [“Guns Blazing”] with his verse and hook and I was like, “Yo, I gotta jump on this sh*t.”

The Detroit rapper then goes on to say that the swap that occurred for “Guns Blazing” was not the first time he and Dre traded songs. “We actually traded a couple of times cause I did a couple of other songs and I’m like ‘Yo you can that one that I just sent you if I can have that one,’ and we kinda swapped a little bit,” he said. “It’s very personal. That’s a very personal song.”

Other highlights from Eminem’s Shade 45 appearance included a breakdown of his Snoop Dogg diss on “Zeus” and his thoughts on cancel culture. You can hear Eminem discuss “Guns Blazing” at the 15-minute mark in the video above.